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Ray of Light Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ray of Light Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$329k
Granted FY2022
6
Grants FY2022
3
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

52% of Ray of Light Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Social Impact Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 3 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year Ray of Light Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $329k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

9
’17
6
’18
18
’19
10
’20
4
’21
5
’22
4
’23
3
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

International$3.6MPhilanthropy$2.1MReligion$1.1MEducation$1.1MCrime & Legal$584kArts & Culture$280kHousing & Shelter$275kYouth Development$155kOther$0
02FY2022 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $45k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $279k
$89,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$6.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
KABBALAH CENTRE INTERNATIONAL$100,000
VOICES FOR CHILDREN$89,713
V-DAY$89,000
THE EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION$25,000
FAUNA AND FLORA INTERNATIONAL$20,000
ROSIE'S THEATER KIDS$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–22, $300k) land where the poverty rate runs at 21%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $100k → 21%THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $100k → 21%THE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $75k → 21%THE EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
MI
NY
CT
CA
CO
TN
DC
FL
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.6M · 12 repeat orgs$2.0M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +120% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2022, 9 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call). Read against FY2022, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
21

Total granted

$6.6M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+120%
+19%

Still filing today

83%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $250k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Crime & LegalInternationalEducationCivil RightsPhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • SH
    SHINING HOPE FOR COMMUNITIES INC
    5× · 2017–2023 · $728k · revenue +231%
  • CH
    CREATING HOPE INTERNATIONAL
    5× · 2017–2021 · $650k · revenue +15%
  • AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID
    4× · 2018–2021 · $350k · revenue +153%

Funded once

  • GP
    GATES PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue -88%
  • BR
    BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY
    one grant, 2017 · $125k
  • EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC
    one grant, 2019 · $60k · revenue +10%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
2
UltraViolet Education Fund

Ultraviolet education fund (uvef) is a 501c3 organization. ultraviolet is the premier national organization advocating for gender justice issues using creative, strategic campaigning and digital-first organizing. ultraviolet drives…

Civil Rights
3
Indigenous Peoples Rights Inc

To lead and coordinate the global initiative to address and prevent criminalization, violence, and impunity against indigenous peoples towards strengthening their collectives, solidarity, and actions.

Human Services
4
Pro Publica Inc

Pro publica is an independent, non-profit, pulitzer prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories. [see continuation on schedule o] we produce…

Arts & Culture
5
Global Poverty Project Inc

Our mission is to build a movement of global citizens whose actions will help achieve our vision of a world without extreme poverty.

Social Science
6
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc

Rockefeller philanthropy advisors aims to accelerate philanthropy in pursuit of a just world

Philanthropy
7
Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc

The transgender legal defense and education fund is committed to ending discrimination based on gender identity and expression, and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal…

—
8
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
9
Fund for the Global Fund

To encourage individuals, corporations, foundations and donor governments to support the global fund, an international foundation focused on ending three of the world's most deadly infectious diseases.

Human Services
10
Womens Funding Network

Our mission as a global alliance is to provide strategies, research, and resources that support the critical agency and influence of women's foundations and gender justice funders in the movement for equality, justice, and power for all.

Education
11
The Leadership Foundation

The leadership foundation, inc. (the foundation), established in 1990, is the mechanism by which iwf members advance the next generation of women leaders. the foundation accelerates the careers of top-performing women by offering…

—
12
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation

The elizabeth glaser pediatric aids foundation (egpaf) is a proven leader in the fight against pediatric hiv/aids and has reached over 33 million pregnant women with services to prevent transmission of hiv to their babies. to date, egpaf…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Lgbtq Task Force; the most unlike its peers is Lycee Francais De New York. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

34 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 34 of the 41 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/34
Grantees still filing
19/34
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Raising Malawi Inc: $2,250,000 · InternationalRaising Malawi IncCREATING HOPE INTERNATIONAL: $650,000 · InternationalCREATING HOPE INTERNATIONALAMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID: $350,000 · InternationalAMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AIDUNRWA USA NATIONAL COMMITTEE INC: $300,000 · InternationalUNRWA USA NATIONAL COMMITTEE INC+2 more: $110,000 · InternationalSocial Impact Fund: $1,065,639 · PhilanthropySocial Impact FundGATES PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS: $1,000,000 · PhilanthropyGATES PHILANTHROPY PARTN…+1 more: $20,000 · PhilanthropyKABBALAH CENTRE INTERNATIONAL: $1,110,000 · OtherKABBALAH CENTRE INTERNA…DETROIT ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMY: $325,000 · OtherDETROIT ACHIEVEMENT ACA…BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY: $125,000 · OtherBRITISH RED CROSS SOCIE…DOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM: $150,000 · OtherDOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOU…VOICES FOR CHILDREN: $89,713 · Other+12 more: $205,000 · Other+12 moreSHINING HOPE FOR COMMUNITIES INC: $727,950 · EducationSHINING H…PURCHASE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · EducationPURCHASE …+2 more: $20,000 · EducationV-Day: $389,000 · Crime & LegalEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $60,000 · Crime & Legal+5 more: $50,000 · Crime & LegalTHE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $275,000 · Human ServicesEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Human ServicesNATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATIONINC: $250,000 · Arts & CultureROSIE'S THEATER KIDS INC: $30,000 · Arts & Culture
International$3,660,000Philanthropy$2,085,639Other$2,004,713Education$797,950Crime & Legal$499,000Human Services$300,000Arts & Culture$280,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRaising Malawi Inc: $2,250,000 over 2y, 98% of budgetSocial Impact Fund: $1,065,639 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetGATES PHILANTHROPY PARTNERS: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSHINING HOPE FOR COMMUNITIES INC: $727,950 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetCREATING HOPE INTERNATIONAL: $650,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetV-Day: $389,000 over 4y, 13% of budgetAMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID: $350,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetUNRWA USA NATIONAL COMMITTEE INC: $300,000 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetTHE EMPOWERMENT PLAN: $275,000 over 3y, 4.0% of budgetNATIONAL ITALIAN AMERICAN FOUNDATIONINC: $250,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetDOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM: $150,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetHUMAN APPEAL: $90,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $89,713 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $60,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPURCHASE COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetROSIE'S THEATER KIDS INC: $30,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetGLAAD INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAUNA & FLORA INTERNATIONAL USA INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTJ MARTELL FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTURKISH PHILANTHROPY FUNDS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPAROLE PREPARATION PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetADVOCATES FOR TRANS EQUALITY EDUCATION FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL LGBTQ TASK FORCE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMARCH FOR OUR LIVES FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLYCEE FRANCAIS DE NEW YORK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTATES UNITED TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENC CO GPEC-ICHV: $10,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetNYC Together Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetJEWISH BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS ASSOCIATION OF LOS ANGELES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…Jewish Communal FundThe Goldman Sachs Cha…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Charities Aid Foundat…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Ford FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…The Pfizer Foundation…Paypal Charitable Giv…Tides Foundation
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY16.7× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Tides Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ray of Light Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ray of Light Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 41 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home